Kawasaki Is Developing a New High Speed Train

That’s the good news. The bad news is that this only means the U.S. will have even more catching up to do! All that grumbling notwithstanding, the new train will be quite special.

The Kawasaki people are referring to it as the efSET, short for Environmentally Friendly Super Express Train, and they have high hopes for hitting the global market with this sleek beauty.

Kawasaki has a long history of creating and building high speed rail equipment, going all the way back to 1964 and the first of the so-called “bullet trains”. This one is expected to travel at a bit over 217 miles per hour and, according to the company, will be more comfortable for passengers and, with new unspecified technologies, more friendly to the environment.

So far, my only experience with high-speed trains has been in France. I rode the Eurostar from London to Paris and was really impressed with how smooth the ride was. Car attendants were passing up and down the aisles serving drinks and pouring hot coffee at 187 mph.

Let’s hope that the U.S. is on the verge of moving to high-speed rail! Certainly the voters of California have taken a hugely important first step by approving Proposition 1A, a $10 billion bond issue to build a high-speed rail link between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

That’s good news … but the hard truth is, we’re still several decades behind most of the rest of the world.

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